Long-Term Care - Illinois General Assembly

Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans: To improve long-term care focus on 3 goals: 1)
better staff-to-patient ratios; 2) better staff training; and 3) better enforcement of the rules
and regulations. There also needs to be better communication between long-term care
facilities and legislators, and between facilities and the public.
THE ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION
• Provide long-term care services and supports for all who need them, regardless of age,
income, or disability.
• Establish a financing system that is progressive, fair for all generations, and protects
families from impoverishment.
• Establish eligibility rules that specifically include persons with cognitive impairment who
need direct assistance or supervision, reminding or cueing them to perform routine
tasks.
• Create a person-centered delivery system that tailors services to the needs of the
individual rather than the setting of care.
• Provide appropriate and cost-effective long-term care options, including home and
community-based services at home, in adult day care, and in home-like residential care
settings, with respite, support and training for family caregivers.
• Create flexible delivery systems that offer consumer choice of providers, including both
agency and independent providers, and offer the option for consumers to manage their
own services.
• Allow consumer and family involvement in developing individual plans of care, choice of
services and providers, and quality assurance.
ALZHEIMER’S FAMILY CARE CENTER
This center is a collaborative effort of Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center and the
Chicago Veterans Administration Health Care System (West Side Division). The center
contracts with the Illinois Department on Aging, the Illinois Department of Human Services
Division of Rehabilitation Services, and the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The center is
facing significant financial challenges, because of the difficult obtaining additional donations to
cover a funding gap resulting from low state payments and the increasing actual cost of care.
Sharon A. Adams (Caregiver, Chicago): There is a need for additional facilities for the
care and treatment of Alzheimer’s cases.
GOLDEN CIRCLE SENIOR CITIZENS COUNCIL
• More emphasis and resources need to be dedicated to prevention. Funding under the
Federal Older Americans Act covers “prevention” service, including congregate meals,
nutrition education, information and assistance, outreach, and health screening. These
services help by improving personal nutrition; providing information on healthy lifestyle
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